The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. Our Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, a World Oceans map, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

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February 21, 2019

The Bosporus is one of the world's most strategic waterways; it is the strait that separates Europe to the west from Asia to the east. Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), one of the great historic cities of the world, straddles the Bosporus; it is the only metropolis in the world located on two continents. Can you identify the two bodies of water that the Bosporus connects? Consulting the map of Turkey will reveal the answer.

February 14, 2019

Greece and its northern neighbor Macedonia recently resolved a nearly-three-decade-old naming dispute in which both countries claimed historical rights to the name "Macedonia." The Republic of Macedonia agreed to change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia and this renaming was officially promulgated on 12 February 2019. The World Factbook will incorporate the new name throughout its database after the US State Department receives an official diplomatic notification from the Macedonian Government and after the name has been approved by the US Board on Geographic Names - all of which should take place within the next few days.

Other country name changes of the 21st century include last year's name change of Swaziland to Eswatini, the Czech Republic adopting the short-form name of Czechia in 2016, Cape Verde formalizing the Portuguese use of its name Cabo Verde for all official purposes in 2013, and East Timor adopting the name of Timor-Leste shortly after attaining independence in 2002.

February 07, 2019

Where is Tasmania? To find out, go to the Appendices tab>Appendix F: Cross-Reference List of Geographic Names. Under the ‘T’ entries you’ll discover the answer.

January 31, 2019

The "Area - rankings" field in the World>Geography category contains many Top Ten rankings. Recently, listings for the Top Ten largest forested countries, the Top Ten most densely forested countries, and the Top Ten largest deserts were added to this field. Check it out.

January 24, 2019

Lake Victoria, the world's largest tropical lake and the second largest fresh water lake, is shared among three countries. Can you name them? Consulting one of the Africa maps under the References tab>Regional and World Maps will provide the answer.

January 16, 2019

The Yucatan Peninsula is a huge land body extending north from Central America that divides the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean Sea; it is shared by three countries. Can you name them? Various maps under the References tab will help you determine the answer.

January 10, 2019

These additional six common words - pains, plane, pure, rain, regalia, serial - can also be unscrambled to form the name of a country. How did you do?

January 03, 2019

Each of following six common words - also, chain, enemy, laity, mail, moan - can be unscrambled to form the name of a country. Did you get them all?

December 31, 2018

Although the three island groups that make up the Pacific nation of Kiribati only have a land area of 811 sq km, their 32 coral reefs and one coral island are dispersed across 3.5 million sq km of ocean and fall on both sides of the Equator and the 180th meridian. Kiribati thus is the only country in the world to fall into all four hemispheres (northern, southern, eastern, and western).

December 20, 2018

Did you know that Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean is the most remote island in the world (the farthest from any other point of land)? A territory of Norway, the island is 1,639 km (1,019 mi) from Antarctica.

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